USB-C has become the biggest topic of conversation following Apple’s introduction of the new 12-inch MacBook. After years of separate power, data, and video ports, Apple is now pushing USB-C as a replacement for its own proprietary MagSafe charging solution, as well as other I/O ports included on its previous laptops. Going forward, MacBook users can connect a USB-C multiport adapter to handle whatever accessories they want— USB-C can even support 4k displays using a DisplayPort Alt Mode.

But what accessories will the new MacBook support? Over the last few days, we’ve talked with sources close to the situation to find out what Apple plans on supporting, and whether there will be any limitations for USB-C accessories. The short and amazing answer is that most accessories supporting the USB Type-C specifications should work with your new MacBook. Apple won’t be doing anything to block any specific types of accessories— in fact, it will even allow external batteries or other Macs (!!) to charge the new MacBook…

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That’s a big deal since previously the market for external MacBook charging solutions was all but nonexistent, entirely due to hurdles with Apple’s proprietary MagSafe charging solution. Apple doesn’t let companies build accessories with MagSafe (though some slip by), and in the past has sent lawyers after companies that tried. After figuring out workarounds, a couple of companies have offered modified MagSafe solutions for charging MacBooks with external batteries— including Hyper’s Juice battery packs— but the complex solutions often cost a lot and have compromised designs that require a modded MagSafe cable or full-sized MacBook power adapter, like this AC/DC/AC/DC ChugPlug from Lenmar.

With USB-C, battery packs for MacBook should start to more closely mirror the market for iOS device batteries. Many low-cost and compact designs should require nothing more than the standard USB C charge cable that comes with the new MacBook or an inexpensive USB A to USB C cable. Sources say that any battery solution that meets the USB Power Delivery specifications should work with the new MacBook, though the battery will need to push enough power to actually recharge a laptop. Apple has its own 29W power adapter that will come with the new MacBook.

One REALLY nice thing about new MacBook & USB-C:You will be able to use external batteries just like iOS devices. No proprietary MagSafe BS

But it’s not just batteries. The new MacBook will work with DisplayPort alternate mode for video, and we’ve confirmed that means it will work with third-party video accessories as well. That means you won’t have a problem with external displays using third-party adapters, as long as they use DisplayPort signaling over USB-C.

Apple already has its own accessories, the AV Multiport adapter that offers HDMI, USB 3.1, and USB-C inputs, and a VGA version), but neither will come in the box with the new MacBook, and for many people, one will be a required separate purchase of $79. Lower-cost third-party video accessories will work, too, if you want just video-out and no further data or power connectivity. That’s something we were hoping for and expected, but a question we’ve been getting a lot since Apple unveiled the all-new laptop design earlier this week.

You won’t have to wait long for third-party options. Just this week Belkin, Lacie, and others unveiled a host of new USB C cables, adapters, and accessories. Google just started selling a $13 USB Type-C to USB Adapter, a $60 Universal Type-C Charger (60W), and $40 USB-C HDMI and DisplayPort adapters alongside its brand new Chromebook Pixel 2 which also features the new USB standard. These video adapters offer the same types of video output as Apple’s accessories, but at half the price. Many more adapters will certainly be coming soon.

We might be bidding farewell to the safety of MagSafe, but with USB Type-C we’ll finally gain the ability to conveniently charge our MacBooks on the go, and to use a wider range of third-party accessories. The new MacBook’s already amazing battery life and now support for external batteries will likely outweigh the benefits of MagSafe for most.

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About the Author

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s weekly Logic Pros series and makes music as one half of Toronto-based Makamachine.

It need not be magnetic. The original Xbox controller had breakaways built into the cable. Only reason no one built something like that for laptops was because nearly every laptop has a different kind of charging port.

OP never mentioned magsafe. Alternatives are possible though. Apple didn’t invent magnetic power cables and trying to troll based on their vague “magnetic connector which connects to electronic devices” description – it would be quickly thrown out of court since again, Apple didn’t invent the concept.

Many Japanese countertop appliances and worldwide sold deep fryers used magnetic power cords before apple patented magsafe in 2007 in order to prevent hot contents being spilled.

It would be awesome to see a magnetic power cable where the magnet is built into the transformer block

They could make it be like the iPhone where they check to see if its an authorized cable, if not the cable would become useless in a future update. I think this is good bc cheap cables that aren’t authorized can do damage to your phone. It makes cables a little more expensive, but at least you know that it won’t damage your charge port or circuitry inside the phone.

That might be a little harder with USB-C, on the iPhone all cables have a little chip that, where the specifics of it are determined by apple making it easier to authenticate any not ‘made for iPhone’ Cables.

I know that Apple has the chip serial number coded into chip on the cable, but what about USB C. It has to have a chip in it to determine what is what. For example: Say you plug the cable into the MacBook pins aligned 1 2 3 and then connect it to say an external drive that also charges the computer, and then it plugs into an external monitor as well. You plug the other end into the drive with pins aligned 3 2 1. The cable needs to be able to determine this and put the power in the correct pin, data transfer to the drive in another and then the display signal in the last. Im not 100% sure if this is the way that the cable works or if the devices do all the work and figure it out. But i do know that the lightning cable works like this, the authentication chip also assigns the pins their function each time it is plugged into a phone. To me, it would only make sense for the USB C cable to do the same.

This is great; however, i have one concern. External batteries and non authorized chargers and sometimes authorized chargers tend to push too little or too much power to a device. More often external batteries, but charges can too. This causes the battery to begin to fail and can even cause the power management chip (which basically tells the battery what to do) and sometimes even the circuitry inside the phone to become damaged. As a past repair technician and an undergrad electrical engineering student i have seen this. Non Apple chargers and external batteries do not charge the battery at the correct rate. Too fast or too slow, too many or too little Amps will cause the electrons in the battery stop reacting. The phone pulls 1 Amp and 5 volts to get 5 watts (until you get to the 6, it can handle more), but if you aren’t using that then it can damage the battery significantly over time, and worse the phone. I have seen it, replacing the battery usually works, but in the case of the iPhone 5, the power management chip seems to fail more often, we would attempt a battery replacement and if you left it plugged in to charge it would stay at say 55% and never increase, and you would pull it off and it would jump to 100%, plug it back up and it would be 10%, this is the power management chip failing, it doesn’t know what to do. If the phone doesn’t turn on after a battery replacement and still does nothing, then the circuity has been damaged. Also, charging cycles can kill a battery and you can tell when the charging cycle is high bc it is hard to get a full day of battery life. This happened to my old MacBook Pro that i left plugged in all the time since i was constantly using it at work to type my repair notes, look up parts, etc. The screen never turned off bc it was always being used. I needed to have the battery replaced (once i quite) bc it only lasted 30 to 40 minutes on a full charge, even if i was using it at home for light use. (All of this happened over the course of a year. Heavy use with it plugged in all of the time, I worked there much longer before college, but i only brought my computer for about the last year i was there. My battery went from charging over 90% of it to only charging less than 20%, in about a year. Thats bad.)
I see this as possibly causing problems with this computer. If Apple has made it so that the computer will not charge unless it has 29 Watts (at whatever Amps and Voltage it is rated at) then i see no problem with it, but that needs to happen in my opinion if it already hasn’t. (I know it says above enough power to charge a computer, but you don’t want too much power). It would also be nice to have your external monitor charge your computer, but i see monitors needing a switch or something so that the computer isn’t also just charging and can be “unplugged” from power without actually being unplugged when not in use. This is the way i see things, but who knows, maybe Apple has already taken action for this that we don’t know about.

TLDR. formatting is king, however from the start of the post, I can assure you one thing:

The block that is on every laptop’s charging cable is called a transformer. Transformers work by taking the voltage given by your power outlet and spinning it through copper coils around a magnet – reducing the voltage to whatever is needed by the device.

This transformer adheres to specifications given by the manufacturer. Usually, providing you go with a reputable third party such as Belkin or Lacie, the correct voltage is outputted from your charging device or cable to your device itself.

That’s not to say batteries won’t be affected because they will, but that’s no different to first party chargers bought from Apple themselves. Batteries have a certain life cycle – an expected number of power cycles (times the laptop can be charged) before the battery becomes almost useless. With most batteries, this is around 1000 cycles. This can be made worse by never unplugging the laptop leading to overcharging (not really a problem anymore because modern devices detect when they are full and close the incoming charge connection and just open it occasionally to keep the charge full). It can also be made worse, and you can have a battery die much sooner by never letting it cycle.

The best practice for a healthy battery is generally to let it die, fully charge it and let it die again every so often – this practice recalibrates the battery and gives better battery life in the long term.

As for using a charger that is too high of voltage, this is again irrelevant because the transformer does all the work to prevent problems. I myself have an 85W Magsafe2 charger designed for Macbook Pro 15″ models for my Macbook Pro 13″ – and battery life has no issues so far and the laptop is now 4 years old.